


Family

by Salmaka



Series: That One Martian Modern AU [4]
Category: The Technomancer (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background Character Death, Family Feels, IC (Integrated Circuits), M/M, One Big Happy Family, Salmaka's Expanded Universe, Usage of Head Canon(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 19:14:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18666661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salmaka/pseuds/Salmaka
Summary: Sometimes, we choose who our family will be.





	Family

Connor and Ian were planning to watch some movie and wanted to ask Sean if he will join them. So, as Ian was making popcorn for them, Connor went looking for the young man.

However, finding him wasn’t as easy task as he first thought because Sean wasn’t in his room. Going back down again, Connor checked the garage only to found it dark and empty. Thinking where Sean could be, Connor crossed out the option that Sean went somewhere; he usually told them when he did.

Standing downstairs, Ian noticed his puzzled expression and the lack of Sean. “Where’s Sean?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

“Have you checked his room?” As soon as Ian asked it, Connor gave him the Look, “Of course you had. What about the attic?”

Con shook his head, “No, but the lights there are off. And before you ask – I’ve checked the garage, too.”

“Don’t be like that, Con. I’m just trying to help.” Ian took the bowl of popcorn, went closer to his husband and kissed his temple.

Con sighed, rested his head under Ian’s shoulder and put a hand around his waist. “Sorry.”

“Should I go looking for him and you will pick the movie, or will you keep looking?”

“Pick something, I’ll check the garden,” Connor said and kissed Ian before heading towards the door into the garden.

He found Sean sitting under the old oak in the further corner of the garden. It was getting dark and Con could see the red dot of the lit cigarette before he saw Sean himself. Con frowned but then remembered that the young man was smoking only when he felt really stressed out or down. Only when he was in a bad mood. Sean probably didn’t know that Connor knew about this bad habit of his. And so, seeing this made Con worried. Something was wrong.

He approached Sean but stopped a few metres away from him, to keep him space. Both literally and figurately. Con stood there, not saying anything until Sean looked at him.

“Are you ok?”

“I…” Sean sighed and with that exhaled the smoke. “I don’t know.”

“Can I?”

Sean didn’t answer right away. He put the cigarette between his lips again, take a long pull and leaned his head back against the tree. In this light and with the cigarette between his fingers, Sean suddenly looked older than seventeen years old. Only when he exhaled and the smoke surrounded him, Sean nodded. Con smiled gently and sat down next to the teenager. The ground was starting to be cold, but the trunk of the tree was still rather warm.

“It’s the letter…” Sean started; his voice was shaking.

When Con got home and checked the mailbox, there was an important looking letter addressed to Sean. There was no indication of what could be its content, though. No returning address or proper information about the sender or anything.

“You don’t need to talk about it, Sean, if you don’t want to.”

“I want—need to,” he took another drag on the cig, “Stev— my step-father had died.”

“Oh, Sean…”

“And I don’t know how to feel about it.” The cigarette between Sean’s fingers was forgotten and was slowly dying.

“Whatever you are feeling right now – don’t hold it back. It will make this situation much easier when you let yourself to feel it.”

“I just… I almost forgot about him, moved on with my life. Found a new…” He didn’t finish but it was clear what he was about to say. That he found a new family.

Sean told them about his step-father and what Mancers had learned didn’t leave Con with a good feeling. That man didn’t like Sean and didn’t hold back to tell him so. It was even worse by the fact that it always wasn’t like that. When Steven started to live with Sean’s mother, he took the little Sean as his own.

However, as the boy was growing up, things had changed. Sean’s hair had suddenly the ‘wrong’ colour; more after his biological father than his mother and of course different from Steven’s. Sean wasn’t ‘good enough’ and didn’t listen to him as Steven wish him to. And when Sean’s puberty hit and shortly after his mother died, things only got worst. There was nothing and no one to keep them together, to keep them both in check.

Thanks to this verbal abusing, Sean was more bitter than most of his peers. Growing a hard shell was his method of protecting himself. But at the same time, he was rebellious and didn’t hold back to say his opinion. His situation didn’t change this about him, maybe even fuelled it.

Connor was so glad that Sean managed to run away from that man, from his own home when he did. And he was even happier that the teenager and Ian had met and then accepted their offer to help him.

As time went, both Ian and Connor saw these little changes. Saw how Sean was more and more comfortable around and with them. This house became his home and Mancers became family. It was a slow process and both men gave him as much space as possible.

And then there was this unasked question. Con knew that Sean talked about this with Melvin. These two were as close as brothers; Connor was fearfully waiting for the day they will get matching tattoos or piercing.

Con had a feeling that Sean almost asked a few times but changed his mind seconds before he actually asked. The closest Sean got to asking was shortly after Ian’s accident. Then, Sean had realized that nothing is granted, it helped him understand more about how he felt. But he still didn’t ask. Was still waiting for something like today’s news maybe.

It may sound a bit twisted but something nice can be born from the bad.

And even if Sean won’t ask, both Mancers won’t stop seeing Sean as part of their family. Sean was like a son they secretly always wanted. However, they won’t push or ask him themselves. Sean was almost an adult, and this was his decision. It would have a bigger impact on his life than on Mancers’.

“I don’t know if I will be able to go because of the school and exams…”

“If you don’t want to go, don’t find excuses. You are not obligated to be at his funeral.”

“No, no. I – ‘want’ isn’t probably the best word for it, but… I will go,” Sean said resolutely. “I just… I want you and Ian with me. Not at the funeral but when I’ll go to the house. I can’t do that alone. I want you there with me.”

“Of course, we will go with you, Sean.”

“Thanks,” Sean stubbed the cigarette out, sat closer to Con and rested his light blonde head on his shoulder.

“Anytime. That’s what family is for.” It may be risky, too bold to say that, but it was a risk Connor was willing to take.

And to his delight, Sean didn’t lean off or panicked. He just sighed happily and said, “Yeah, I guess it is.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! And also thank you for potential kudos or comment! I'm bad at replying but I really appreciate it. <3


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